


Love Bites

by stardust_20



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Coulson/May angst, F/M, Gen, Love/hate relationships, mentions of Grant Ward - Freeform, mentions of Hunter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 06:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4993180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardust_20/pseuds/stardust_20
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love and hate are two sides of the same coin.  Not really much of a summary I know - this is a onshot set in two parts of a couple of conversations Melinda May might have had with Coulson and Andrew set between last week's episode and tonight's.  (i.e. between episodes 3.02 and 3.03). Spoilers for anything that's aired so far up to episode 3.02.</p><p>Heavy on the angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Bites

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**Part One - Phil**

He felt rather than saw her come in. Knew she was waiting for him to acknowledge her presence. Also knew equally well that she could outwait him, no matter how long it took.

“How did you get past security without anyone knowing?” Because of course, if anyone had seen May coming back, they would have alerted him first thing.

She sniffed. “I’m the enemy now, am I?” 

Coulson finally lifted his eyes. “You’re not one of us anymore.”

“You’ve made that pretty clear.”

“You’re the one who chose to go awol.”

“I _chose_ to take some time off.” She bit the words out. “You gave me permission.”

“I expected you’d come back.”

“And here I am.”

“Within a reasonable amount of time.”

May watched him narrowly, reading him as best she could. He was never easy; he knew her tricks and had learned to hide himself from her. She detected no hurt in his voice though, and that surprised her. Only anger.

“It wasn’t like you needed me. You have a nice, neat little extraction team. With Mack and Skye you’ve got everything I used to do covered.”

“Daisy. She goes by Daisy now.”

May just shrugged.

“What was I supposed to do, May?” There was real anger in his voice now. “I lost my left hand and I had to replace it. When you took off I lost my right hand too, so what did I do? I replaced it.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Phil, or give yourself excuses for hating me. I stopped being your right hand a long time ago when you stopped trusting me. Since then I’ve just been your most valuable tool. Until Skye got her powers. Now you’ve got a shiny new toy you can play with and mold to do your bidding, so you don’t need me anymore. You don’t really need any of us ‘normal’ people anymore. Only the ones with powers matter to you now.”

He rose, eyes laser sharp as they bored into her. “You’re out of line, Agent May.”

She continued, taking a step forward to only the desk separated them. “I left. I was supposedly your right hand, someone you’ve worked with and been friends with for over two decades yet you only called once while I was gone - to tell me about Simmons. You never asked when I was coming back, never said you missed me or needed me.” She paused. “Simmons got swallowed up by the alien artifact and you just wrote her off as gone forever even though you of all people should know that anything is possible with alien things. Now you’ve let Hunter go out on a suicide mission to kill Ward _with no backup?_ ” She stopped to breathe, dark eyes flashing with fire. “Whatever happened to being a team? To having each other’s backs and never leaving anyone behind? To no acceptable losses? You’ve become so focused on winning you’re willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get there.”

“You’re not Andrew,” he spat. “Don’t think you can analyze me.”

“No, I’m not, but I lived with him long enough to learn how to read people. And I’ve been away from _you_ long enough now to finally be able to see you clearly. You’ve lost more than just that hand.”

They glared at one another for a long minute and for just a second Coulson felt his heart flinch. He drew in a deep breath, steadying it. “Are you done? Good. Leave your badge on the desk and get out.”

May pulled it from her pocket and tossed it down. “You can’t fire me,” she said coldly. “I quit.”

~ ~ ~ 

**Part 2 - Andrew**

“This is a surprise.” May stood on his doorstep, saying nothing. Andrew moved aside and opened the door wider. “Come in.”

He closed the door behind her and though he nodded towards the living room, she remained standing in the hallway silently.

“Are you going to tell me why you’re here or do I have to guess?” He met her eyes. “After our last call when you hung up on me I thought - “

“I don’t know how to deal with my feelings for you,” she interrupted, rushing the words out.

He nodded, holding her eyes. “So you push them away. You push me away.”

She nodded.

“Okay, that’s a start.” He half-smiled. “Admitting the problem is the toughest part.”

“I wish that were true,” she said bitterly, eyes dropping to the ground. “There’s so much … so many things … “ She lifted her head to look at him and there were tears in her eyes. “I screwed up my first chance with you and my second and now … “

“You’re afraid you won’t get another?” he finished gently. 

She swallowed hard. “I came to say goodbye. Face to face. I - “ She choked on her words. “I thought I owed you more than just a phone call this time.”

His face darkened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”

“Where are you going?”

“After Ward.”

“With Hunter?” His eyes flashed. “Did Phil order you to go? Surely he’ll send backup.”

She let out a laugh that was more of a sob. “No, there won’t be any backup. Coulson didn’t send me, in fact he just fired me so I guess this op really is off book. We’re on our own Drew, and as good as we both are, I doubt if either of us will be coming back from this.”

“Melinda - “

“I’m okay with that, as long as we take him down with us.”

Before she could protest or back away, he moved close and gathered her into his arms and held her tightly. She was stiff and unyielding at first but as he held on she relaxed and put her arms around him.

“Don’t go,” he whispered. “I know things aren’t great between us right now, but we can keep trying - “

"I have to go. For them. For my family. For you.” 

He pulled back a fraction to look into her eyes.

“Ward engineered the accident to my father. I’m responsible for the death of someone he cared about and he’s out for revenge.”

“You know this for a fact?”

She nodded. “Hunter needs someone at his back or he’s a dead man walking. He doesn’t realize just how dangerous Grant Ward is. I do, which is why I have to stop him before he hurts any more of the people I care about.”

“Oh Mel.” He stroked her hair, unaware his fingers were playing with it.

She reached a hand up and stroked his cheek tenderly then stepped up on tiptoe to kiss him. “I love you Drew,” she whispered. “I always have, even when I couldn’t say it or show it. I never stopped loving you.”

She pulled out of his arms and was out the door before he could speak. “I love you too Melinda,” he whispered at the already empty hallway. “Do good, but please come back home to me.”

**~ fin ~**

**Author's Note:**

> This really isn't what I want to see. I do like both pairings, May/Coulson and May/Andrew, but I'm very sad to see that Philinda seems to be dying on the show as they grow further and further apart. From what the actors are saying, this looks to be a continuing trend. That said, I want to see May happy so the thought of her and Andrew managing to get back together and make it work is one that I can live with. :)


End file.
